With some Western reservoirs set to run dry, officials in Colorado, Utah and Oregon lift fishing limits in some areas

essentialsaltes · Wednesday at 2:14 PM

Fish all you want — they’re doomed either way. That’s the bleak message wildlife officials have given at a handful of reservoirs across Colorado and Oregon.

Both states face stark drought forecasts, with some reservoirs expected to run dry by summer’s end. Given that water managers don’t expect water supplies — or, consequently, the fish that rely on them — to last in those locations, officials have taken special administrative action to remove limits for anglers.

The lifted restrictions are a result of the historic snow drought that many Western states have experienced this year. Reservoir operators expect some water storage bodies to run dry, and some are also deliberately moving water to other parts of their systems to reduce the amount that will be lost to evaporation. In these unusual operations, the fish that stock some of these reservoirs will be collateral damage.

Climate models predict a continued, long-term decline of snowpackas the effects of climate change intensify.

From similar event in 2024 in one reservoir:

durangodawood · Wednesday at 2:22 PM

aka doomfishing.

Servus · Thursday at 1:05 PM

Completely man-made reservoirs in extremely arid areas.

Nithavela · Thursday at 1:06 PM

Servus said:
Completely man-made reservoirs in extremely arid areas.

Yeah, who needs them. Just like completely man-made houses in extremely cold areas.

Servus · Thursday at 1:12 PM

Nithavela said:
Yeah, who needs them. Just like completely man-made houses in extremely cold areas.

Fake ponds in the middle of a desert drying up in summer isn't a catastrophe.

durangodawood · Thursday at 1:13 PM

Servus said:
Completely man-made reservoirs in extremely arid areas.

Combined with changes to snowpack producing climate.

Evidence is compounding that human caused warming is behind this.

Nithavela · Thursday at 1:14 PM

Servus said:
Fake ponds in the middle of a desert drying up isn't a catastrophe.

Certainly not on a cosmic level, no.

But perhaps someone was using the water being stored? Maybe for something like farming? Just a thought, of course.

Servus · Thursday at 1:36 PM

Nithavela said:
Certainly not on a cosmic level, no.

But perhaps someone was using the water being stored? Maybe for something like farming? Just a thought, of course.

Perhaps artificial water sources in the middle of the desert dry up no matter who is using them. But this isn't about that. It's this summer's "this disaster is happening because of man-made climate change and we need to stop it from happening by voting Democrat". That's the message every summer. Last year the panic was over Phoenix, Arizona getting hot in July.

Nithavela · Thursday at 2:45 PM

Servus said:
Perhaps artificial water sources in the middle of the desert dry up no matter who is using them. But this isn't about that. It's this summer's "this disaster is happening because of man-made climate change and we need to stop it from happening by voting Democrat". That's the message every summer. Last year the panic was over Phoenix, Arizona getting hot in July.

Nah, you can't stop that anymore. Vote whoever you want into power.

durangodawood · Thursday at 2:54 PM

Servus said:
Perhaps artificial water sources in the middle of the desert dry up no matter who is using them. But this isn't about that. It's this summer's "this disaster is happening because of man-made climate change and we need to stop it from happening by voting Democrat". That's the message every summer. Last year the panic was over Phoenix, Arizona getting hot in July.

Its the decline of the snowpack thats on display here.

Things are changing that will cause human suffering. Some of it is definately because of filthy human habits.

Servus · Thursday at 6:21 PM

durangodawood said:
Its the decline of the snowpack thats on display here.

Things are changing that will cause human suffering. Some of it is definately because of filthy human habits.

I know that's been an issue for a long time.

The climate is always changing and trend is deserts are getting hotter and drier in the summer. It could be that eventually Phoenix will get as hot as Dubai. And the situation has been politicized with Democrats claiming they can save the world.

Tuur · Thursday at 7:57 PM

durangodawood said:
Combined with changes to snowpack producing climate.

Evidence is compounding that human caused warming is behind this.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0911197107

SimplyMe · Thursday at 9:13 PM

Servus said:
Perhaps artificial water sources in the middle of the desert dry up no matter who is using them. But this isn't about that. It's this summer's "this disaster is happening because of man-made climate change and we need to stop it from happening by voting Democrat". That's the message every summer. Last year the panic was over Phoenix, Arizona getting hot in July.

This isn't about a single summer. This is about a mega drought -- one that has lasted roughly 25 years in the entire Western US. So, for Lake Powell, the last time the lake was full in 1999 -- it has been in slow decline and is only about 25% full today (before the summer started. Lake Mead was last full about the same time period, and is now about 28.5% full. Lake Mead will drop this summer as not only will there be evaporation but also, they'll not get the full amount of water from Lake Powell.

Or to give you another explanation: Lake Powell is currently at 3528 feet. When full, it sits about 3700 feet. It can no longer generate electricity once it hits 3490 feet and in recent years the lack has been known to drop as much as a foot per week. Dropping 38 feet, which could happen by next year, will mean that it can't produce power for the first time in roughly 62 years ago.

This isn't a one year issue, nor will a snowy winter (which they had two years ago) substantially help. Oh, let me also point out that while the dam is in Arizona (a purple state) the bulk of the lake sits in Utah -- a very red state.

Servus · 2026-06-05T00:06:40-0500

SimplyMe said:
This isn't about a single summer. This is about a mega drought -- one that has lasted roughly 25 years in the entire Western US. So, for Lake Powell, the last time the lake was full in 1999 -- it has been in slow decline and is only about 25% full today (before the summer started. Lake Mead was last full about the same time period, and is now about 28.5% full. Lake Mead will drop this summer as not only will there be evaporation but also, they'll not get the full amount of water from Lake Powell.

Or to give you another explanation: Lake Powell is currently at 3528 feet. When full, it sits about 3700 feet. It can no longer generate electricity once it hits 3490 feet and in recent years the lack has been known to drop as much as a foot per week. Dropping 38 feet, which could happen by next year, will mean that it can't produce power for the first time in roughly 62 years ago.

This isn't a one year issue, nor will a snowy winter (which they had two years ago) substantially help. Oh, let me also point out that while the dam is in Arizona (a purple state) the bulk of the lake sits in Utah -- a very red state.

I didn't say it is a one year issue. I said each year a big deal is made over somewhere in the bone dry very hot desert, being dry and hot. The impending man-made climate change catastrophe has been a big campaign issue for Democrats over the years. Lake Powell and Lake Mead are fake lakes situated in the most dry desolate desert terrain imaginable, where no such body of water would normally exist in nature. The idea is to get everyone across the country worried over climate change, with the pitch that only Democrats will do whatever it takes to save us from it.

SimplyMe · 2026-06-05T02:47:11-0500

Servus said:
I didn't say it is a one year issue. I said each year a big deal is made over somewhere in the bone dry very hot desert, being dry and hot. The impending man-made climate change catastrophe has been a big campaign issue for Democrats over the years. Lake Powell and Lake Mead are fake lakes situated in the most dry desolate desert terrain imaginable, where no such body of water would normally exist in nature. The idea is to get everyone across the country worried over climate change, with the pitch that only Democrats will do whatever it takes to save us from it.

And yet, again, both Lake Mead and Lake Powell worked fine for decades; regardless of being in (what you claim is) "the bone dry very hot desert." Though, honestly, Lake Powell isn't really that hot; the high temperature most days in August averages 93 degrees, with an average low of 65 degrees at night.

Instead, the issue is in the mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and even New Mexico -- where winter snowfall melts and becomes the Colorado River water that has always flowed through "the bone drive very hot desert". The issue is the lack of snowfall in those mountains, that is where the 26 year drought is; not in the lakes themselves.

But, more to the point, this thread isn't about either of those reservoirs. Instead, it is about reservoirs in Colorado and Oregon. Lake Mead and Lake because they are fed by similar mountain snowfall as what ends up in these two reservoirs, that are also affected by the 26 year drought in the West.

Servus · 2026-06-05T03:25:23-0500

SimplyMe said:
And yet, again, both Lake Mead and Lake Powell worked fine for decades; regardless of being in (what you claim is) "the bone dry very hot desert." Though, honestly, Lake Powell isn't really that hot; the high temperature most days in August averages 93 degrees, with an average low of 65 degrees at night.

Instead, the issue is in the mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and even New Mexico -- where winter snowfall melts and becomes the Colorado River water that has always flowed through "the bone drive very hot desert". The issue is the lack of snowfall in those mountains, that is where the 26 year drought is; not in the lakes themselves.

But, more to the point, this thread isn't about either of those reservoirs. Instead, it is about reservoirs in Colorado and Oregon. Lake Mead and Lake because they are fed by similar mountain snowfall as what ends up in these two reservoirs, that are also affected by the 26 year drought in the West.

Yes, there's not enough mountain snowfall runoff these days to keep man-made lakes in the middle of a desolate desert environment full.

Like lake powell those reservoirs are man-made and would not naturally exist in the the arid desolate areas they're located in.

Nithavela · 2026-06-05T04:58:15-0500

Servus said:
Yes, there's not enough mountain snowfall runoff these days to keep man-made lakes in the middle of a desolate desert environment full.

Like lake powell those reservoirs are man-made and would not naturally exist in the the arid desolate areas they're located in.

I am looking forward to the day when all man-made things that don't naturally exist are returned to their state of non-existence.

Servus · 2026-06-05T05:07:30-0500

Nithavela said:
I am looking forward to the day when all man-made things that don't naturally exist are returned to their state of non-existence.

They'll probably return to full when the climate cycles into another trend. In the 50s Lake Mead water levels got pretty low. In the 80s levels got so high the spillways had to be opened.

durangodawood · 2026-06-05T08:24:02-0500

Tuur said:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0911197107

Yes this isnt the first human experience with drought. I often visit ancient dwellings from that 12th c era. That drought drove massive migrations and even horrible violence. Its was a bad experience, apparently.

But the issue now is that a warming climate, driven by human activity, is more likley to result in a decreased snowpack - leading to changes that will cause lots of human suffering and difficulty. And the southwest climate and drought has only continued to get worse in the 16 years since that paper was published.

durangodawood · 2026-06-05T08:45:31-0500

Tuur said:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0911197107

Also, just for anyone who thinks that 16 year old paper you reference is meant to cast doubt on my assertions about human caused climate change, heres how it starts. (Im not talking about you here, of course, as you would have read it.)

Climate-change projections clearly indicate what observations already suggest: Temperatures everywhere will be warmer in the future due to anthropogenic activities. General circulation models (GCMs) project continued warming, with annual temperatures 3–5 °C above current levels by the end of the century (1). As previous articles in this Special Feature have discussed, warming temperatures, even without reductions in precipitation, will have far-reaching impacts on hydrologic sustainability in the Southwest.

With some Western reservoirs set to run dry, officials in Colorado, Utah and Oregon lift fishing limits in some areas

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